Funny ha ha? Or being funny with me?

Using humour in the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) or in writing in general can be fraught with issues. Was the tutor being funny with me for making a comment? Did that text I sent read right? Do I sound sarcastic instead of sincere on this discussion forum?

These questions have plagued me ever since I started using the internet to communicate with people in a "virtual environment" -which was also around the time I first got a phone. There have been many a time I have tried to stop a text sending (which, I might add, was easier on an old Nokia 5510 than it is on the iPhone!) or had to send a speedy follow up email to ensure the recipient didn't think I was being funny with them. There have been countless re-reads of emails/posts/texts just to make sure...

This is where we need to be careful with students and peers in the VLE. Recently, whilst facilitating a seminar, a participant made a comment that I was unsure of. In one context, it could have been humour or sarcasm and if spoken, I may not have batted an eye, however when written, it was hard to judge how the comment was meant.

The use of humour in education, say on Moodle, for example, is a heavily debated subject with many people firmly rooted on either side of the fence (Baid and Lambert, 2010).Injecting humour and fun into education can increase the learning of the students but also the perceived learning by the student due to increased motivation to participate and engage (McLeod, 2007). It can also, on the other hand, lead to an artificially high sense of satisfaction in students as outlined by a study carried out by Naftulin et al. (1973) - read it here.

Face to face teaching has been discussed at length so what are the implications of the use of humour in the online classroom? We must consider all the users of the VLE and their personalities. Humour is not always an international language and as tutors we need to be inclusive. We must remember that we have many types of students who may or may not understand various senses of humour. Lei et al. (2010) state that somteimes one can be unwittingly offensive when using jokes in the classroom and the same can be said online. How many times have we sent a text with one letter wrong which totally alters the context? They go on to say that sarcasm must be avoided at all costs, and I agree, in person, once you know me, I have a sarcastic sense of humour however, online you wouldn't know.

Me? I tend to keep humour more for the face to face environment as I am aware that we have many types of students. For example, we have international students, those with learning difficulties (such as aspergers or ASD), students from different cultures/backgrounds so in the online environment, in order not to offend, I try to keep my material neutral.

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Baid, H. and Lambert, N., 2010. Enjoyable learning: the role of humour, games, and fun activities in nursing and midwifery education. Nurse Education Today, 30(6), pp.548-552.

Lei, S.A., Cohen, J.L. and Russler, K.M., 2010. Humor on learning in the college classroom: Evaluating benefits and drawbacks from instructors' perspectives. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 37(4), pp.326-332.

McLeod, S., 2007. Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Available from interne t: http://www. simplypsychology. org/maslow. html (accessed 16 March 2016).

Naftulin, D.H., Ware Jr, J.E. and Donnelly, F.A., 1973. The Doctor Fox Lecture: a paradigm of educational seduction. Academic Medicine, 48(7), pp.630-5.